In NASCAR, only 40 drivers have competed in more than half the Sprint Cup races this year. That means limited opportunities for open rides, and those often depend on sponsorship. And as independent contractors, drivers must fight on their own if they feel their rights have been violated.

So it’s understandable that one of the trickiest parts of driver contract negotiations centers on how to fire a driver.

Even the most simple parameters can be challenged. Scott Speed was released from Red Bull Racing because he didn’t meet a clause requiring him to be 15th in the standings by the end of the 2010 season. He sued, claiming that he wasn’t provided equipment and testing necessary to achieve that standard. Speed and the team eventually settled out of court.

Drivers sometimes negotiate for stipulations that if the driver gets pulled from the car for poor performance, his base salary or a percentage of it, would still be paid.

Drivers also can try to negotiate a probation-type period, where they must receive a 30-day notice if they are not performing up to the owner’s standards before they can be fired.

But with moral and behavioral clauses such as those requiring drivers not to disparage the team publicly or embarrass the sponsors, owners sometimes will use those as reasons not to pay a driver.

“There are likely contracts that exist that allow the car owner to terminate the driver agreement whenever the car owner wants and for whatever reason,” said Fuel Sports Management’s Rod Moskowitz, a driver agent.

“Obviously, if you’re the driver, that is not in your best interest. Under this scenario, the car owner can simply decide he doesn’t like you anymore or a driver such as Mark Martin or Kurt Busch unexpectedly became available and simply terminate the driver’s employment.”

Obviously, drivers try not to make that possible when negotiating contracts.

“Both parties try to get it written to their advantage,” driver Jeff Burton said. “In most cases, the owner holds the cards and he’s able to structure that contract so that when the what-ifs come up, they tend to fall on his side because he has the most financial risk, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

The termination clause in most contracts often stipulates that if a driver leaves a team, the driver cannot take the sponsor with him. The issue comes up when a sponsor, after its contract expires, goes to another team with a driver.

“If the sponsorship agreement is up, then the sponsor has the freedom to go anywhere they want to,” said Chad Warpula, a partner at K&L Gates, which represents several race teams and a few drivers.

“And if they end up at a team the driver ends up as well, then you’re trying to prove if there were discussions in a dark smoky room where the driver is saying, ‘You need to come sponsor me,’ or did the sponsor go to the team that directly hired the driver?”

Driver Elliott Sadler had to go to court after Richard Petty Motorsports refused to pay him his termination costs because Hunt Brothers Pizza went to Kevin Harvick Inc. at the same time Sadler did a couple of years ago.

Sadler was no stranger to legal action as he also filed a notice of a claim against Gillett Evernham Motorsports when it tried to fire him two years before his contract expired. The team relented and never released him.

Citing a confidentiality agreement as part of the settlements, Sadler declined to talk about the situation with GEM.

Going to court is the only option (unless the contract calls for arbitration) for a driver if he feels he has been wronged by the team owner. There are no unions to represent the driver.

“A driver at this level has to be very careful about what he does because if he appears to be litigious, it may make it difficult for him to get a job with another team,” Motorsports Management International’s Cary Agajanian said. “There have been a number of drivers that have just accepted the fact that a team owner was not going to be fair or honest or honorable and wasn’t going to pay the driver, and in that instance the driver walks away and says, ‘I guess I just got burned.’ ”

Agajanian and other agents stress that they believe most team owners—especially the most established ones — don’t play those type of games.

And sometimes it’s best just not to fight and move on—if performance is lacking, then no one wins if they stay together.

“The position that an athlete or performer is in—essentially your job is up and you know it after every two years whether you do everything right or not,” driver Brad Keselowski said before solidifying his future by winning this year’s Sprint Cup championship.

“That can be extremely stressful. Then of course, you can do everything wrong and if you have a great contract be protected for a year or two. It’s a unique situation.”